Learning geometry with the help of Minecraft

As a teacher teaching in an International school my students come from all over the world. It is so rewarding for all the many reasons  - I know all of you know (if you don't know what I'm taking about - take the plunge and teach in an International School). On the other hand, it can be challenging as students come to the maths class with very diverse mathematics backgrounds. Being an IB school, we do not 'stream' students as you found find in other school across the UK, so it is essential for me to make sure that each of my students are being challenged in creative ways every time they enter my classroom, but particularly so at the start of a new unit.

So... the plan is?
At the start of this geometry unit, it was essential for me that students had a common understanding of vocabulary as we progressed through the unit. I created a wordlist (without definitions) of geometry terminology that I shared with the students in class.

I then asked them to represent their math terminology in Minecraft. They created a few worlds and decided amongst themselves what terms of the list they will build. I just made sure in the end that all the terminology was covered. As they were building and came across something they didn't know, they had to find out (from anybody or anything - Internet, etc. except for me), but they could use me to confirm their understanding. As they were building, I would prompt them with certain questions pertaining to what they were building at that moment in time. In the back of their minds, students had to keep the definition in mind, because the end product would be a Minecraft representation of the term and it had to be accompanied by a definition. Students then had to put these together then define in the accompanying video that they made on iMovie. This then acts a 'glossary' or wordlist for the unit.

What happened in reality?
As we know about students, what we plan for almost always has a twist to it and that is what I love about teaching! The students did what was expected of them (of course), but then they stretched themselves so much further. For example, as students were constructing pyramids, I was asking them what the differences were between triangular based and square based pyramids. They thought about it and build it. As I came round to them again - they were taking inspiration from ancient pyramids and comparing it - the Mayan step pyramids and the Egyptian pyramids. They added so much depth to their own understanding! 

The final product(please note that I did not edit anything, so there are some errors, but I think it is so great, it's worth sharing!) of one of my classes.

The verdict: My initial list given to students were too long and if you are going to do this, I would suggest you stay within a particular group of shapes at a time: such as polygons or quadrilaterals and add it in the end to the movie together. My mixed up wordlist created a lot of confusion for weaker students. 

Gaming in the maths classroom

On Saturday, I presented at the Education Show in Birmingham on gaming in the maths classroom and thought I would share some of my ideas with you.






















Above: Some photos of me before the show. The photo on the right-hand side was taken before the presentation (note the nervous smile!)


As teachers, we need to be convinced of the positive impact something would have before adopting it as part of our educational practice. Initially, we I started out with this project and research I was unsure of (1) why gaming works and (2) how to make it meaningful so it is not just perceived as a reward. However, now I am convinced that gaming is the way forward for mathematics education (within given parameters of course), but gaming is definitely changing students' mindsets and engagement in mathematics.

How the brain works:
If we start with what we know about the brain (at least at this moment in time), stressors for teenagers include many factors and one of those is repeated failure. When students are confronted with these stressors, the amygdala (also known as the switching station) is not allowing information through to the prefrontal cortex. In most mammals we see this as the 3F's - fight, flight and freeze. However, in a teenager in a maths classroom we see it manifest in one of two ways:
1) Acting out
2) Zoning out

It is essential that information arrives at the prefrontal cortex, as it is the prefrontal cortex that allows for critical thinking, reasoning and application of what we are learning in mathematics. However, for the majority of students, mathematics is associated with repeated failure and as a result, the amygdala is not allowing information to the pre-frontal cortex where the need to process and apply the information.

Above: Image of the brain from MyBrainNotes.com edited by Sarah-Neena Koch

This is where the games come in:
If you have ever observed someone playing a video game, you will have noticed that repeated failure doesn't seem to deter them from playing - and you would be correct. When playing games, the amygdala doesn't associated repeated failure with the switching that in other mammals is so important for the preservation of the species, in continues to allow information through to be processed by the prefrontal cortex.

Gaming in my classroom:
It is important to understand the differences between gamification and game based learning. This video I created will explain more:

Gamification:
If you are new to gaming, gamification is the best way to start off. Get comfortable with the various ways you can game in the classroom. I would suggest Kahoot, as teachers you can get it at: getkahoot.com and students access the games you've created at kahoot.it.  You can use kahoot to create polls of just using the online gaming tool. I also use kahoot for formative assessment or as a lesson starter.

Above: Engaging the audience at the show with a kahoot we played together.

I have also used Lego to gamify what students are learning/doing in mathematics.

Game based learning:
There are several games that I have used for game based learning in my classroom, using dragonbox and MineCraft This video will explain more:

I hope you have found this useful. Please get in touch if you are using games in your math classroom so that we can create a community where we share ideas and resources.

Investigating quadrilaterals

Following on for the investigation into triangles last week with my grade 6 MYP class, I had students inquire into the interior angles of quadrilaterals today. They firstly had them identify the different types of quadrilateral and find a ways of organising and identifying when you have what type of quadrilateral.

Afterwards, they had different types of quadrilaterals and cut out the angles from these quadrilateral add them, by means of glueing it to find the rule: interior angles of quadrilaterals add up to 360 degrees.

The verdict: Another fun and easy way for students to investigate the angle rules in quadrilateral. I had them complete a traditional determining angles exercise afterwards and they found it really easy to determine based on previous knowledge. Recommended! 

Investigating triangles

During today's inquiry into triangles with my grade 6 MYP class, we reached for old-fashioned technology - and with great results! Students were really engaged throughout this activity.

I started by giving students an example of triangles with their identities written inside, and they had to label these. For example, acute and isosceles, students had to identify the acute angles within that triangle and then had to indicate the two sides that are of equal length in order to make it an isosceles triangle.

Here is a great example of two of the pieces of work the students produced:

I then asked them to use the exact same triangles (I made two copies of the same triangles), and to cut out the angles (HINT: if you are getting the students to do this activity, get the to cut it round, otherwise it becomes difficult to see where the original angle was). 

After cutting out these angles, students were asked to glue together these angles to find the pattern in the angles. 

After repeating it several times, students realised that it demonstrate that the interior angles of a triangle will always add up to 180 degrees.

The verdict: Great use of time, quick activity, but students find it so easy to remember that interior angles add up to 180 degree. Give it a go, it's so worth it!

Differentiation without discrimination*

Each and every one of us have faced and taught one of ‘those’ classes - ‘those’ classes that challenge each and every bit of your being, classes that you are frustrated by and that equally challenges you. They frustrate me, because their learning needs and understanding of mathematics is so diverse, yet they challenge me, like no other class as I am constantly thinking of different ways to engage them all in class and to provide for each and every students according to his and her needs. Don’t get me wrong they are a great class and wouldn’t want it any other way, but it doesn’t mean it is easy. Things that I would normally do and be able to do in a mixed ability classroom is not so possible with this class, as they require such different work in order for them to be simulated.

Differentiation can sometimes be a sticky subject - please don’t think I’m against it, hear me out! When you differentiate, you provide different opportunities for students to reach the end goal, but it requires them standing out. If you provide students with something else, piece of paper, different set of instructions, etc., they stand out. High school is awkward enough, standing out as being different is worse! How can I help my students without making them feel awkward, but still challenge them in a way that is personally appropriate?

This is one of the many advantages of being in a 1:1 iPad (technology) environment, is the opportunity for anonymity. You will never know what someone is working on/doing without explicitly looking. I used this anonymity to provide an opportunity for greater differentiation.

I would create/simulate a flipped classroom environment where I record videos of me teaching/explaining a specific concept. I used the app ExplainEverything to record these videos ranging from 1 - 5 minutes per video. I am very careful and make sure that none of the videos introduces more than one concept at a time, it might cover and use concepts previously studied but a new concepts is introduced per video. My students are provided with these concept check/explanation videos, and questions to be working on. These are all posted on their iTunes U course, where they can assess it and work on it as and when they want to.

Above: Screenshot from my iTunes U course

Students can then work through these concepts and questions at their own pace and I assist when they are struggling. My classroom has now become a place where students work at the pace their are comfortable at and I facilitate their learning. Some students would be watching videos in a lesson while others might be engaged in discussing a problem and others are working one-to-one with me. This model is not perfect, but it has allowed me to differentiate without discrimination. Of course, some students are more intrinsically motivated and this gives them the opportunity to ‘have’ me at home when they want to work through more concepts, giving them the opportunity to continuously challenge themselves to reach higher. Equally, students struggling have me to help them in class on the bits they are finding difficult, without the pressure of peers judging them.

As technology continues to improve, we need to find new and interesting ways to engage and differentiate for the different learning needs that exist within the classroom.

*For this post, I refer to discrimination, as defined by dictionary.com as the "treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favour of or against, a person ... based on the group, class, or category to which that person ... belongs rather than on individual merit".

Using google docs for collaborative learning in mathematics

During today's lesson with my Grade 6 class, we were looking at finding factors and multiples of specific numbers. As we were looking at finding factors, one of my students posed the question: Would an even number always have an equal number of factors? Equally: Would an odd number have an odd amount of factors?

What a brilliant question and exactly the example of how we would like MYP students to inquire into mathematics. My response was - Great!!! Let's look at what you are asking as a class together. 

We quickly made a google doc and started looking at factors. Here is an image of the work in progress:

After finding the first eighteen factors, we looked to see if it holds true, and we highlighted the outliers (as seen below). Factors of 4 was the first exception (highlighted in orange) and we suggested that maybe it is the exception to the rule. We looked further at the factors, and found that it was true for all the other factors, except for 15 and 16 as seen below: 

Thus, as a class today, through a great inquiry a student posed, we learned so much - it was a quick visual for me to see who understood the concept of factors (as they were doing it live on my screen); students inquired into a fellow classmate's question and students discussed prime factors (having only 1 and the number itself as factors) and it was a wonderful collaborative learning opportunity where we could investigate and find that there was not a pattern holding true for all factors. 

My students reminded me again today that they have so much creativity and if I give them the opportunity to inquire and explore, they develop as confident mathematicians!